Chelsea's Daniel Sturridge plays waiting game over his future as goals account dries up

What’s happening with Daniel Sturridge? The 22-year-old striker seemed so key
to Chelsea's future at the start of this season, and appeared set to be a
shoo-in for England’s Euro 2012 squad, but now is something of a peripheral
figure.

Certainly he has suffered from Salomon Kalou’s return to the fold but having made 40 appearances during this campaign his goals have also dried up.

At the same time there is increasing talk that he may be unsettled at Stamford Bridge and may be considering his future at the club where he has two years left on his existing contract.

His former club, Manchester City, have been named as potential suitors and Sturridge would be in demand should he be put up for sale.

It’s understood that Sturridge himself is waiting to see what happens when the next Chelsea manager is appointed and whether he will eventually be granted his wish of being played as a central striker – and that could be unlikely.

There’s another factor for Chelsea to consider. Amid all the discussions over which players might leave this summer, there’s an acceptance that Chelsea will not gain much money in transfer fees. Should Sturridge be sold as part of that clear-out, if it still happens, he would bring in a sizeable fee.

Meanwhile April is the month when players such as Jose Bosingwa will find out whether Chelsea are taking up their option of extending their contracts. As yet the Portuguese defender has not received a letter informing him either way.

Liverpool lose faith in sports science department

There are two interesting tables involving Liverpool and Manchester United at present. In one, United are in first place and Liverpool are in eighth.

In the other it is Liverpool who occupy the top spot, with Manchester United back in eighth. Unfortunately for Liverpool the first table is the Premier League one; the second has been compiled by the website physioroom.com and intriguingly shows that Liverpool have suffered the fewest number of injuries in the league, incredibly half as many as United.

Apart from two long-term knee injuries, to Lucas (what a miss he has been) and Charlie Adam, Liverpool had every first-team player available for last Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Everton, which is an achievement given the time of the season.

During that game, the team’s fitness levels showed as they over-ran their opponents in the second-half to turn the result around — which tallies with yet more statistics showing, on average, that Liverpool’s players sprint 14 per cent more than their rivals in games. Rather than total distance covered, this key piece of data is regarded as relevant to dictating the players’ fitness in matches.

Yet, last week, and before the Wembley match, Liverpool’s owners sacked not just the club’s director of football Damien Comolli but the head of the sports medicine and sports science department, Dr Peter Brukner, with immediate effect. If it was a surprising decision, given Liverpool’s apparently strong record on fitness, then it was also a curious one in its timing.

Why could it not wait until the end of the season, rather than right now with key games still to play and fitness, player recovery and so on such crucial issues?

Certainly Brukner’s departure has caused some astonishment at other Premier League clubs, and within the world of sports science, given the impressive levels of investment Liverpool have made and because, also, such a thorough approach would appear to be something that would appeal to the club’s owners — and the whole Moneyball psychology — in the Fenway Sports Group and John W Henry in particular.

Will Brukner’s department now be unpicked? Quite possibly so and maybe it was deemed as too expensive to run as Fenway plan a number of cut-backs.

It could be a false economy. The rumour is that Liverpool are expected to turn to Dr Mark Waller, the former head of the medical department and someone who is well-known by manager Kenny Dalglish, and other clinicians might follow Brukner, an Australian, in leaving the club. Dalglish paid tribute to Brukner, a respected figure who has worked in several sports, following his departure. But what odd timing.

Clearly Henry and Tom Werner, the club’s co-owners, felt that something had to give at Liverpool with the underachievement at the club despite their vast investment in the transfer market. Comolli’s departure was a statement of intent, an abrupt attempt to shake things up, which it did, with the sense that a lot of money has been wasted.

Although Dalglish was also quick to dismiss suggestions he had any role to play in the departures, they will nevertheless increase his power at the club. He has received the owners’ backing for the time being at least and the next 12 months would appear crucial. He has to deliver.

There is only one table that matters, of course, and that is the Premier League table where Liverpool sit in eighth place and an incredible 36 points behind United. But given their strong record on player fitness, their ability to rehabilitate players quickly, then why dispense with the man who had helped place them at the top of at least one table this season?

FOOTBALL TAKES ITS MEDICINE

Despite his sacking from Liverpool, Dr Peter Brukner is still expected to attend what has been billed as the world’s largest football medicine conference at Stamford Bridge this weekend and run by the Isokinetic Medical Group.

Brukner is one of the key speakers at the conference which will include 1,000 delegates and representatives from 56 countries and some of the world’s biggest clubs, who will debate, how to deal with serious knee injuries.

Sports science is becoming an increasingly important part of football, as it finally attempts to catch up with other sports, and leading Premier League doctors, including Manchester City's Dr Phil Batty as well as the FA’s Dr Ian Beasley and head of physiotherapy Gary Lewin, will take part.

Also expected to attend, at some stage after Chelsea’s match away to Arsenal this weekend, is the club’s interim head coach Roberto Di Matteo whose playing career was cruelly cut short by a horrific triple leg fracture from which he still bears the vivid scars.

SPURS’ GROUNDS FOR OPTIMISM

How much will Tottenham Hotspur's move to a new £45 million state-of-the-art training ground this summer be a factor in the choice of a new manager, should Harry Redknapp decamp to the England post?

As yet Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has still not had any approach from the Football Association over Redknapp, even though the 65 year-old is still regarded as the favourite.

Spurs’ move to Bulls Cross – just off the M25 near Enfield – will be a significant development and might also influence who Levy chooses, should Redknapp leave.

It is understood that Spurs might now be in the market for a younger coach who would set out a template as to how the club are run and take a strong interest in the academy and overall style of play.

It is partly why Brendan Rodgers has become a viable candidate given his “top-to-bottom” approach at Swansea City.